


no soul to sell

by avapacifica



Series: October Writing Challenge 2020 [15]
Category: Beetlejuice (1988), Beetlejuice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Depression, F/M, Heavy Angst, Hopeful Ending, Mental Health Issues, Near Death, Near Death Experiences, Sad, Suicidal Thoughts, Talking, just whether you prefer romantic or platonic more, that's why i included both tags, the beetlebabes is optional to read as
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:42:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27038143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avapacifica/pseuds/avapacifica
Summary: when lydia is close to death and the maitlands can't reach her, they call the only person they can think of. beetlejuice does a surprisingly good job.
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice/Lydia Deetz
Series: October Writing Challenge 2020 [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948126
Kudos: 33





	no soul to sell

**Author's Note:**

> Day 15: Near Death  
> Wow I'm really going ham on the vent fics huh? If you didn't read the tags, this heavily talks about suicide, so if that's a trigger for you please proceed with caution.

The Deetz are away for the weekend. If they had only taken Lydia with them, the Maitlands wouldn’t be in this situation. They assured her parent’s that they would look over her during the few days Charles had his business trip. She was nineteen though, and both couples assumed the worst the Maitlands would have to do was prevent a party. Even with that, Lydia wasn’t the partying type. Not lately anyways.

When she had crawled up on their roof, they thought it was alright to give her some alone time. Barbara had wanted to check on her though, as Lydia has a habit of losing track of time. When she got outside, she was met with the sight of Lydia, leaning over the edge of the roof. One foot was extended over empty space.

“Lydia!” Barbara yells. Lydia steps back to safety, but doesn’t acknowledge her presence. She sits down on the brink, letting her legs dangle aimlessly. Barbara comes behind her, repeating her name again, but Lydia can’t hear her. Sometimes when she’s spaced out she isn’t able to see either of the ghost couple. It’s not conscious, and oh what a time for this to occur.

Barbara retreats inside, hesitant to leave her alone but needing Adam to figure out what to do. When she explains the situation they both hurry outside. Lydia is still there, casually swinging her legs on the rim of the roof.

“Do you really think she was going to kill herself?” Adams asks. She seems perfectly content now.

“I’m telling you,” Barbara bites her nails. “When I came out here she had one foot over the edge. She was leaning so far I thought we had lost her already.”

“Hm.” Adam is stumped, it doesn’t seem like there’s anything they can do. “Lydia!” It’s futile, she still can’t hear them. 

“What do we do here?” Barbara is starting to sound more panicked. In a situation like this, they would usually just get Charles or Delia. But they’re gone, and there’s no one close enough. Adam closes his eyes, desperately grasping for any solution.  _ Oh god. _

“Well there’s always…” It pains him to suggest it, but he’s not sure who else they could call. When it dawns on Barbara who he’s suggesting her face drops.

“What if he makes it worse? He could convince her to jump himself.” Adam doesn’t think he would sink that far, but he himself isn’t confident with this fix at all. It’s just looking like the only solution. In front of them, Lydia switches her position again. She crouches on her feet, again looking to the ground below her. She pulls a hair clip out, and lets it fall. The Maitlands' eyes widen. There’s no question anymore. If they continue to delay, there might not be any reason to call at all.

“You stay up here. I’ll go inside and say his name.” Adam grabs his wife’s shoulders, letting his plan be known. “I’ll explain the situation to him, and hopefully he’ll be willing to help.” Barbara nods, and turns to Lydia. It’s a little pointless to watch her if she can’t do anything, but it calms them to have at least one of them there in spirit.

“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice.” Adam speaks the words once inside. Despite them needing him, they still feel wrong coming out of his mouth. Like he always does, Beetlejuice appears before his eyes. Adam feels sick to his stomach.

“Wow.” He dusts off his jacket. “I didn’t expect to be back here anytime soon.” He leans up against a wall, knocking against it. “How’s the old Deetz-Maitland house holding up?”

“We don’t have time for this.” Adam says, finally working up to what he needs to say. “Lydia is up on the roof, we think she’s thinking about jumping. Her parents are out of town and she can’t see us. We need you to talk to her, whatever the price.”

Beetlejuice is taken aback of course, he wasn’t expecting a task so urgent or so dire. There’s no time to discuss it, but of course he won’t make them pay. This is Lyds' life they’re talking about, he’s not that evil. He goes up to the roof, Adam on his trail. Lydia is still in the same position as before. He walks up to her, hoping his footsteps alert her to his presence. 

“Lyds?” No such luck. She jumps in her spot at the sound of a voice, but because of her stance there’s nowhere to jump to. She loses her footing, and stumbles over the edge. Barbara screaming behind him doesn’t help, but Beetlejuice grabs Lydia’s shoulders, and pulls her backwards with everything in him. He falls on his back, she trips over his legs and lands next to him. His arm, which had wrapped around her chest, stays there until both of them have completely stilled. 

Her breathing is heavy, but she’s surprisingly the one to make the first move. Her hand grips his wrist, as she brings the arm away from herself. It drops limp to Beetlejuice’s side, he’s in just as much shock as she is.

“Why are you here?” She asks. He supposes it’s a good question, but it doesn’t really seem important right now. Maybe he misjudged his position.

“The Maitlands called me. They thought you were gonna do something bad.” Lydia curls her legs up to her chest, with her arms wrapped around them. Her head is buried in it, with only her eyes popping out.

“Are they out here?” Beetlejuice turns to look, and surely enough the couple is standing there, on their toes to see what happens next.

“Do you want them to be?” Lydia groans, and he gestures for them to leave. Barbara and Adam don’t seem particularly happy about being kicked out, especially because it means leaving Lydia in that awful man’s hands. But there was something in his eyes, and it looks like he cares. They both saw it. They go inside, and promise themselves they won’t intrude. Up on the roof, the conversation continues.

“What were you thinking Lydia? Oh that’s right, you weren’t.” It seems harsh, meaner than he meant, so he dials it back. “Were you really going to do anything?”

“Why should you care?” Lydia asks. It’s not an answer, but they’ll circle back to it. Her response is understandable, he shouldn’t. But hell, he’s attached to Lyds. It might’ve saved her life. 

“That’s not fair.” And he doesn’t mean in the regard that she should know that. Everything points to Beetlejuice hating her. He just doesn’t want to explain why he doesn’t though, and so he keeps quiet about it. 

“I’m going to open up to you.” Lydia sighs. “Don’t take it personally, or think this means I like you. You’re just the only one I know who doesn’t live in this god forsaken house.” Maybe everything she’s saying is true, but after all he put her through, he’s surprised she’ll even look at him. Venting to him, even if he is just a talking board, is beyond his belief.

“All of them think that because mine and Delia’s relationship is better, and that the Maitlands are in my life now, that all my problems are gone. They aren’t. Sure, they make things better, but they don’t help,” she backs away from her knees, grasping for something invisible at her chest, “with all of this.” She resumes her position from before. 

“My mom is still gone.” Beetlejuice wouldn’t know, but she never talks about her anymore. It mostly comes from a place of not wanting to seem selfish, especially with how great Delia and Barbara are. But it also just hurts, and Lydia seems to think bottling it up will lead it to disappear someday.

“I’m sad, all the time. Therapy hasn’t helped. I just want to be happy again, I don’t know why that has to be so hard.” Boy does Beetlejuice feel that, he had given up on having a life he enjoyed a long time ago. But Lydia is young, she should still have hope. 

“I don’t know the answer to your problems, but I do know that it’s not dying.” He doesn’t bring it up, because it would feel like he was guilting her, but being alive comes with the potential for growth. He’s been dead for so long, he knows that he doesn’t have many choices. He could do so much more if he could just breathe, Lydia’s so lucky to have that.

“The best advice I can offer is that you need to start talking to people. I don’t necessarily mean a therapist.” He assures her. “But you can’t keep all this stuff inside. It’ll rot you Lyds.” He knows that more than most. “You can always talk your ear off to me, I don’t mind. I think you’re gonna need someone better than me in the long run though.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit.” It’s a compliment, but Lydia still seems somber. She means it of course, but she can’t bring her expressions to match her words. “I wasn’t going to do it, in case you were wondering.”

He was. It’s not like he thinks she’s lying, consciously at least. He had seen her there. She was one slip away from actual death. If he hadn’t been there and another noise startled her, he doesn’t even want to imagine.

“I was just thinking about it.” Somehow that makes it all the more painful. He wishes he could reach in her brain, and take out every thought that remotely has to do with taking her own life. The both of them had been facing the horizon, but when Beetlejuice turns to look at her, and he can see the tears sliding down her cheeks, it unlocks something in him. His eyes get a little wet themselves. 

Lydia notices the eyes trained on her, and when she sees this demon/ghost/man with those red eyes you get when you try not to cry, she feels bad. It’s not overbearing, but it’s definitely there. Someone who so briefly was in her life is still getting upset at the thought of her taking it. It amazes her. She blinks and his eyes are white again, Lydia has to remind herself that she actually saw it.

“I want to see her again.” She admits. Beetlejuice understands this. There were certainly people in his old life that he waited for. With the career path he chose, they never got the timing right. That’s not her situation though, Lydia has it better than she knows. He rubs her back, hoping that’s okay.

“She’s waiting for you now just as much as she’ll be waiting for you when it is your time.” He tilts her chin up. “Would she really be happy with you showing up looking this smokin’?” Lydia laughs, for the first time since he’s arrived. He’s proud of that. “No. Grow old, make her and the gaggle of your parents proud.” Lydia nods, and Beetlejuice thinks maybe, just maybe, he made this all a little better. 

He stands, and offers her his hand. She takes it, and on the way back inside, he keeps his arm around her shoulders. It’s not as if he expects her to bolt and jump, but being this high up at any capacity with her makes him nervous. Barbara and Adam are waiting as soon as they get inside. They don’t ask a million questions, but their posture might as well have. 

“I’ll talk to you guys tomorrow, but right now I just need sleep.” They don’t look any less nervous, the only relief in that she can see them again. Lydia grabs one of each of their hands. “Really, I’m okay. Beej helped, thank you for calling him.” She’s never called him that before, but Beetlejuice likes it. She starts the walk back to her room. He’s not sure if he should follow, until she looks behind herself waiting for him. He smiles and shrugs at the Maitlands, gloating like the asshole he is.

Once they arrive, he stays in the doorway, which she doesn’t seem to have a problem with. He watches as she kicks off her shoes and lets her hair down. She doesn’t change into pajamas, getting into bed with her entire outfit intact. Beetlejuice doesn’t blame her, not after everything. 

“I meant what I said. You know how to get me here if you need me.” He feels he has to reiterate as it wasn’t an empty promise, like so many of the ones he’s made in the past. 

“Thank you.” Lydia yawns, but puts her finger up while doing so to signal that she has more to say. “Not just for that, I mean everything. You are the absolute last person I would’ve expected to see out there, and you still did better than the lot of them have done in the past few years.” A lesser man would be embarrassed, he’s just glad he could help.

He doesn’t answer though, nodding and shutting off her light. He hopes this means he’ll be in her life more now, though ultimately that’s Lydia’s decision. Beej can’t explain it, but he’s drawn to her, and he’ll do anything she asks. 

**Author's Note:**

> title is from a nine inch nails song. i hope you enjoyed, i'm quite proud of this one. kudos and comments are always appreciated, they make my day!


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